4myths about smartphone batteries

May 06
Battery life has been a major concern for android users. Many theories about battery life extension have been formulated and it is no surprise that smart phone users follow them religiously in the bid to prolong the life span of their batteries without bothering to check the authenticity of such theories. Hacks Undiluted has analyzed some of these claims and has decided to throw more light on them.
Myth 1: The higher the Mah rating of a battery, the longer the smart phone stays on.
Smart phone batteries are modeled to suit the phone hardware. The battery consumption of a phone is determined by how much hardware it contains and the efficiency of these hardwares. A phone which is likely to consume more power is matched with a high capacity battery in order to prolong its ‘On time’. High capacity batteries are usually found in larger phones and tablets/Ipads. However, a phone which uses a lower rated battery does not imply that the battery will drain faster. In fact, a smart phone with a smaller rated battery may stay on, longer than that ‘beasty’ battery powered phones. This is because the device economizes the battery juices owing to its hardware efficiency and probably fewer hardware components. Just as we cannot say that heavy duty vehicles utilizing bigger engines means they run faster than SUVs with relatively small engines, we also cannot say the same for phones utilizing ‘bigger’ batteries. So do not get startled when phone manufacturers list a ‘beasty’ battery as one of its strong points as it could mean the phone needs it to compensate for its high energy consumption. Also, do not let the ‘low’ rating of a phone’s battery discourage you from buying it as many will quickly say, “I’m not buying! The battery rating is too poor!” Don’t crucify the innocent phone because of its efficiency.
Don’t get me wrong. I never said a phone utilizing a high rated battery means it is inefficient neither did I say that a phone which runs on a lower rated battery implies it is more efficient than its former counterpart.. all I’m trying to discourage is the hasty generalization of cell phone’s battery rating determining its life. A very efficient phone on a high power battery is plus but do not judge a book by its cover.
Myth 2: Killing running tasks/apps saves the battery.
While this may be true for laptop computers, it is a pure lie for smart phones. In the case of smart phones, once an application is minimized, it becomes ‘frozen’; it ceases to make use of the CPU until it is reopened and hence, does not impact on the battery. When an application is opened, it is loaded in the RAM to be processed. The phone is programmed to automatically kill some tasks to free the RAM if it discovers it is running out of RAM. When you kill these apps by yourself, you in fact kill the battery as extra juice is pulled from the battery (to load the apps on the RAM) next time you decide to reopen it. Why not allow the phone to do its job ? After all, that’s why its smart.
Because applications only run only when it is loaded in the RAM, some applications( like whatsapp, playstore,messaging apps, etc) find their way to the RAM and hide in the background because of the way they are programmed. These applications consume a lot of battery and they are they should be the source of your worry.On Android, you can disable background apps by going to your Settings > Wireless & networks > Data usage and set “Allow background data” to “Restrict background data”.However, disabling background apps could make them to malfunction. Do it at your discretion.
Myth 3: Charging your battery overnight or overcharging it can kill battery life.
This used to be true for older batteries and technology. Smart phones have inbuilt technology that helps regulate the charging. Once the battery is charged fully, the feedback mechanism stops the charging process; protecting the battery from being overheated from over charging. Once it is detected that the battery level is below 100%, the charging process is triggered again ; keeping the battery level at equilibrium. This series of discharging and and charging however impacts on the lifespan of the battery, but the impact is not significant enough to effect any noticeable drop in the lifespan.
Myth 4: You can prolong your battery life by installing battery savers
I consider the battery saving apps as malwares because they cause more harm than good. They take a chunk of your RAM, overwork your CPU and pushes up unsolicited ads on your screen while doing virtually nothing other than kill apps. Battery saver apps working technique is premised on the ideology that killing tasks help prolong battery life- this, we have disproved in myth 2.Don’t mind the fancy interfaces of the so-called battery savers. Some of these apps claim to fasten the charging rate; a lie from the pit of hell. They will rather kill your battery and block your screen with crazy ads.